


the mandalorian and the caretaker

by mandobls



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:41:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23111884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mandobls/pseuds/mandobls
Summary: he is the predator, and she is the prey.it seems that way, doesn’t it?
Relationships: The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)/Reader
Kudos: 43





	the mandalorian and the caretaker

**Author's Note:**

> the first part of the mandalorian and the caretaker!

“i have a camtono of beskar waiting for you upon delivery of the asset and its caretaker,” the client hisses.

“alive.” the mandalorian’s attention is drawn to the man on his right. he’s nervous. it might have something to do with the way the hunter’d threatened to blast him earlier.

“yes. alive.” the client leans in conspiratorially, as if sharing a trivial secret. “although i acknowledge that bounty hunting is a complicated profession. this being the case, proof of termination of both is also acceptable for a lower fee.” 

the mandalorian stalks out, glancing down at the newly-acquired tracking fob in his hand. unconventional, but the promise of payment looms large. 

the fob would have to do.

upon arriving at arvala-7, the ugnaught called kuill–too kind for this age–proves to be generous.

he has arrived at the encampment far quicker than he would have alone. peering through his periscope presents a sight he isn’t the fondest of. he groans quietly. _a bounty droid._

“…subparagraph 16 of the bondsman guild protocol waiver compels you to immediately produce said asset.” there’s a beat, then the sound of blaster bolts. 

the mandalorian pushes onto his feet with a sigh. “droids.”

the exhilaration of taking the whole encampment down almost makes up for the shot he’d caught with his just-smelted pauldron, courtesy of the droid.

“well, now we just need to get the door open,” he mutters. 

the machine gun catches his eye.

as soon as the two step over the fallen door, their tracking fobs beep rapidly.

“my sensors indicate that there are two life forms present,” the droid says. the mandalorian pulls his fob out, pointing it towards a curled-up figure and a covered egg of some sort, just to be sure. they step closer.

a press of a button has the egg opening. he steps back in alarm, but there is little movement within it.

“wait, they said 50 years old,” he says, peering into the egg.

“species age differently. perhaps it could live many centuries,” answers the droid beside him. 

his attention turns to the figure

it’s a girl, legs tucked below the floating egg, wearing a loose white tunic and brown, flowy pants. the mandalorian nudges her lightly with the barrel of his blaster. she doesn’t stir, but her chest rises and falls with her breath.

“is this the 50-year old one?” he asks, mostly to himself. (the damned droid answers, though.)

“most likely not. i detect signs of the girl being human, and her description fits the asset’s caretaker.” the mandalorian nods, eyes lingering a little longer on her face.

the droid raises his blaster-

“no. we’ll bring them in alive.”

“the commission was quite specific. the asset and its caretaker were to be terminated.” the droid raises his blaster again, pointed towards the girl.

a blast rings through the room. the droid, now fried, drops to the floor with a clang.

the mandalorian studies the two, reaching hesitantly towards the child. its three-fingered hand reaches back. 

he quickly connects the egg to the controls on his wrist and glances back down at the girl. she’s still asleep. he cuffs her quickly and sighs, gathering her legs in one arm and her lower back in the other, picking her up with a light grunt.

it’s a trek back to the ship. mud splatters around his heavy footfalls and the heat is nearly unbearable. the limp girl in his arms doesn’t make it any easier. the child is very much awake, making noises at the reptilian creatures following them. 

the mandalorian stops. he feels uneasy here.

a shadow flits past, and he places the caretaker next to the egg. the child’s eyes follow her figure. he places a wary hand on the blaster at his hip-

a snarl sounds at his right. it’s another bounty hunter, weapon pointed at the child. the mandalorian pushes the egg away, pulling his rifle off his back while keeping an eye on the girl, still knocked out in harm’s way.

two others jump into view, and he takes them down, shooting the last one into dust as it reaches for the girl. 

there are no others, but a still-beeping tracking fob is on the ground, where the now-disintegrated bounty hunter once was. he walks over, crushing it under his boot.

a quiet groan comes from the girl, and the mandalorian spins around. she’s in cuffs and can’t escape, but he keeps a hand on his blaster in case. 

she rises to her feet, and he tenses as she staggers over to the child, paying him no mind. the kid coos with a toothless grin, and he can see her relieved smile from where he stands. 

“hey, love,” she whispers, one hand pulling the other with it as she strokes the child’s head. she glances over at the mandalorian with a smile too sweet for the situation she’s in.

“not going to run?” he asks, strapping the rifle onto his back, grip on the blaster loose.

“you won’t hurt us.” he almost scoffs aloud.

“how do you know that?” she shrugs, placing a gentle hand on the child’s back.

“just have a feeling.” 

he studies her for a second. “let’s go. it’ll be dark soon.” the mandalorian sweeps past, having deemed her harmless. the egg follows, and she yelps. “keep up.”

the sun is already down when he decides to rest. the girl is across from him, next to the child as he cauterizes his wound. as soon as he got a better look at it earlier, the girl looked ready to throw up. he looks up to make sure they don’t try anything, even after her calm demeanor earlier. the girl is asleep again, head leaning against the egg as the child grabs at her hair. his eyes follow the bridge of her nose, the curve of her slightly-open lips, the-

“ _shit_ ,” he mutters, tearing the cauterizer from his skin where it burned him. he needs to focus.

the child is relentless, getting out of the egg somehow and reaching up. he does it again before the mandalorian closes the egg, laying down to sleep warily.

he’s shaken awake lightly, warm hand resting somewhere below his pauldron. his eyes open to the same sweet smile as before, and he has to blink a few times to remember where he is. sitting up abruptly and almost knocking foreheads with the girl, he checks the cuffs around her wrists, still intact, and the egg, still occupied by the green child. he lets out a sigh of relief, studying the girl beside him.

“you seemed tired, so i let you sleep, but i heard voices just now, and i think we should get going soon. if not now.” he nods, checking over her once more just in case.

he’s never captured a bounty so kind to him before.

“let’s go,” he says, standing and leaving her to follow. 

she does, of course. the child is programmed to follow him, and she is programmed to follow the child.

they reach his ship, and it’s in disarray, jawas invading the area, stripping it of its parts. the mandalorian curses, reaching for his rifle.

“stand back,” he grunts, and the girl does, pulling the child with her. he can only take a few shots before they’re retreating. the ship is already tarnished, though, and he stalks down the hill.

“listen.” he turns towards the girl. “i’m leaving the child here. it can’t be moved, so don’t try to run with it. _stay here_.” she nods, watching as he sprints off. he’s far behind the jawas’ ship, but desperation is far greater than logic.

he returns soon enough, body sore from electricity and defeated. the girl leans against the hole-littered wall, watching the child sleep. he silently thanks the stars he doesn’t have to worry about escaped quarry.

just in case, he trudges to the cockpit, flicking switches even though there are gaping holes in the ship’s walls. nothing, of course. he turns back to the girl, who is already standing.

“come on.”

they walk until it’s dark, the girl with at least one bound hand on the egg at all times. the child happily coos as they walk, even though the only scenery is dune after dune of sand. kuill is working on something when they approach.

“i thought you were dead,” he says, turning and eyeing the mandalorian’s new companions. 

the caretaker lifts the child from the egg, setting him down so he can play. she watches him fondly.

“they were what was causing all the fuss?” the mandalorian ignores the question, focusing on his immediate problem.

“my ship has been destroyed. we’re trapped here.”

“stripped, not destroyed,” says the ugnaught, grabbing something from his shed. “the jawas steal. they don’t destroy.” he hands it to the bounty hunter, and he gratefully takes it to fix the electricity-worn control panel on his forearm.

“stolen or destroyed, makes no difference to me,” he mutters, glancing at the child and his caretaker. “they’re protected by their crawling fortress. there’s no way to recover the parts.”

“you can trade,” the ugnaught suggests.

“with jawas? are you out of your mind?”

“i will take you to them.” kuill takes the repairing device back. “i have spoken.” 

the mandalorian sighs behind his helmet, turning back to the child. he points, bewildered, turning to the girl.

“is that- can he-” she looks at him with a slightly regretful expression and a small smile, nodding as the child swallows a frog whole. he sighs again, shaking his head.

it’s raining as they start on their way to the jawas’ ship. the mandalorian sits on a platform that a bluurg drags slowly. the child’s caretaker sits uncomfortably beside him, so he can keep an eye on her. the egg is closed beside the girl, and she shields herself from the rain with a piece of scrap metal haphazardly welded to an electrostaff too beat up to ever work again. morning arrives by the time they finally reach the jawas, and kuill greets them with a wave. 

“they really don’t like you, for some reason,” he remarks as they raise weapons warily.

“well, i did disintegrate a few of them,” the mandalorian replies, paying no mind to the caretaker, whose eyes widen as she covers the petal-shaped ears of the child.

“you need to drop your rifle,” kuill calls over his shoulder.

“i’m a mandalorian. weapons are part of my religion.”

“then you are not getting your parts back.” 

he sighs, starting to put it away.

“fine.” a jawa exclaims something as he gets off.

kuill translates. “and the blaster.” 

they poke at him, setting off his temper when they demand his beskar and insult his pronunciation of their language.

“you understand this?” he asks, flamethrower on his wrist exploding outward and roaring as the jawas scramble.

a hand (that is definitely not kuill’s) is placed on his shoulder, then moves to pull his forearm backward and shut off the fire. the girl (who he didn’t even realize had approached) kneels in between the two as the jawas recover.

“he is of mandalore,” she says in jawa. “he cannot trade his beskar.” the jawas seem to consider this, considerably more pleased with the new arrival. “is there anything else we can trade?” (to say that the mandalorian is caught off-guard is an understatement, but he doesn’t show it.)

the jawa that was speaking stands taller, pointing at the child and speaking its language. the caretaker stands with a start. 

“get away from him, please!” she cries, walking over as they scatter.

“there must be something else,” kuill says as they turn back to the jawas. they huddle, considering what else they can ask for. they turn around, and the mandalorian already knows it’s nothing good. they make their request, and he can pick out two words with his broken jawa vocabulary.

“the egg? what egg?” he asks. 

they chant the whole way, as if it didn’t get on his nerves the first few times. he’s stooped in the cockpit, obviously made for jawas. the girl has a little bit of an easier time squeezing in, but they both hit their heads against the ceiling at a particularly violent bump all the same. he sighs, but she just laughs, obviously amused. 

the three, a mandalorian, a girl, and a child, exit the ship, walking down the ramp.

it’s still a bit of a walk, and they make it in uncomfortable silence.

she hesitates for a second before asking, “uh, do you think that you could take these off?” his head turns toward her, silent. “just for a little!” she says. “it’s just that, if there’s anything dangerous i want to make sure i can protect-” he stops the two, grabbing her bound hands and unlocking the cuffs, hanging them on his belt for later.

“until this is done.” he starts walking again, and she smiles brightly behind him.

“okay!” she says, jogging up on the other side of the child, making faces and exaggeratedly showing off her wrists. raw and tender from the cuffs, but free. the child squeals, sensing her excitement. the mandalorian watches from the corner of his limited vision. he can’t imagine what would happen to her if he hadn’t been the one to find them first.

they finally reach the cave the jawas had described, and they regard it in interest. he turns to her.

“stay here.” she nods, watching as he checks his weapons are in place and carefully ventures into the cave.

he’s launched out only moments later, slamming into the ground with a groan. the girl scrambles back, pulling the egg with her. the beskar in his pauldron and the pain weighs him down as he stumbles onto his feet. (it feels like something helps him do it, but there is no one behind him.)

his rifle (which would be incredibly helpful in this moment) is jammed, and he struggles with it a bit too long, flying into the air as the mudhorn charges him. he thinks he can hear the caretaker gasp to his right. the muddy animal turns to the child and the girl with a growl. 

she grounds herself, gripping the egg with one hand and raising the other, as if she’s going to _stop_ it with just her hand. 

the mandalorian, exasperated and panicked, connects the egg to his wrist, flinging it to the side, subsequently pulling the egg and dragging the girl through the mud with an _oof_.

the mudhorn crashes into the rock where they once were, grunting as it catches sight of the mandalorian again. he unleashes the flamethrower that scared the jawas so well earlier. it does nothing against thick skin, and the mandalorian is driven into the mud by its horn.

he activates his grappling hook, at it catches around the mudhorn’s eye. he almost celebrates, but is cut off before he can. the beast drags him along the ground, and he’s forced to roll away before he’s launched back into the cave. he’s charged _again_ , slamming back into the mud with a vision-blurring impact. 

all he has is his knife, and he weakly brandishes it as the mudhorn rears to charge again. it approaches, closer and closer and-

it stops. then starts to float. he watches as it kicks the air in confusion. the mandalorian has time to catch sight of the girl somewhere to his left, hand raised and eyebrows furrowed as if… _she’s the one doing it_. 

she gasps, eyes flying open as she drops the beast on the ground, giving him enough time to stab through its thick skin and kill it. he retrieves his knife, turning back to the girl, who’s unsteadily walked a little closer.

“what was that?” he demands, looking at the now-dead mudhorn again. she grins sleepily.

“wasn’t all me,” she says, looking back at the child, completely knocked out in the egg. “lost my concentration when he passed out.” she looks into his visor again. “sorry ‘bout that.” 

he’s about to respond, but she turns away, walking towards the cave. 

(and it’s a good thing too, because he might have blurted out something about how beautiful she looks with mud in her hair.)

he follows, turning on the light attached to his helmet to find her feeling for “the egg” already.

he never gets the chance to put the cuffs back on her.

it proves to be enough for the jawas, and they return to his ship with all of the parts. with everyone’s help, the ship is fixed quickly, and it is time. the ugnaught denies a job, finished with his life of servitude. the mandalorian understands.

so, they are alone. the mandalorian is in the pilot’s seat, and the girl is in the passenger’s seat with the egg on her lap. the _bounty’s_ seat. he finally remembers what she is here for.

but he doesn’t want to.


End file.
